Volunteer Gary Willing of the Tamaqua Historical Society spends a very warm Monday afternoon applying a fresh coat of protective wood stain finish on the 1848 Thomas Hegarty Blacksmith Shop in Tamaqua. During earlier times, the Hegarty Blacksmith Shop was the local hub of news and even gossip, such as the era of the Civil War, the 1876 Centennial, the Spanish-American War and other important dates in history.